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To identify specific psychosocial, health, and biological factors associated with maintaining cognitive function, researchers prospectively tracked the cognitive status of more than 2500 well-functioning older adults (baseline age range, 70–79). The investigators used a global measure of cognitive performance, the modified Mini-Mental State Examination, at baseline and 2, 4, and 7 years later.
Most participants (53%) exhibited minor decline (scored within 1 standard deviation of the average change in cognitive performance over the study period), 16% exhibited major decline (>1 SD greater than average loss), and 30% maintained cognitive status (improved or had no change). In a multivariate analysis, baseline characteristics that predicted bei…